Bonfire
by ems3412
Summary: A lot was left unsaid about what happen to Sokka and Suki after the end of avatar the last airbender. What was happily ever after like for them? Find out through the voices of special characters!
1. Chapter 1

"My name is Kanna, I'm the oldest daughter of Sokka and Suki. Ever since I was a little girl I loved to fight, to pick on other water tribe kids, to try and imitate my mother while she and the other warriors trained. My father used to say that from the moment he saw my eyes, he saw the same fire and passion that runs in his family. Mom used to get mad at him because he couldn't hide his pride in my fighting spirit: he always encouraged me to fight smart and never be ashamed of my warrior nature.

My assertiveness was not always welcome by others, as I tended to be a lone wolf, and there for not the most popular child. Me and mom didn't have the calmest relationship, I knew I drove her mad frequently and I quite liked that! I was constantly demonstrating how I knew better what fighting means. I'm my mind battling felt harmless and useful in every situation imaginable. At the time I didn't understand why she was against me fighting when she taught every other girl how to do it. Now I see that she was simple concerned about how serious I fought every single time, how mad I'd get when I lost, and how powerful I felt with every blow. Despite of all that mom trained us frequently on the techniques used by the kyoshi warriors. I was obsessed with being stronger than everyone else. Stronger than my mother, this incredible brave warrior, who had played a roll in a real-life war and she felt this competitiveness constantly.

Everything changed when I was seven, my family was shaken by the news of the attack against the Fire Nation, that required the kyoshi warriors help to lead the defense. For this reason, my mother left with aunt Ty Lee and the others. At our goodbye she gave me the biggest hug telling me: "Warrior to warrior, these are the sacrifices we have to make. Now that I'm not here you have to protected them, take care of them and honor the compassionate, brave girl I love. Never doubt that you are always in my heart." During those 2 years I really grew closer to my family, besides the fear of never seeing mom again changed my hole perspective of fighting. I continued practicing my technique with dad, but the training was now composed of long war lectures. My father was, at this time, a different man – I felt like he was out of balance, he didn't know how to be himself: the jokes were rare, his new crazy ideas stopped being crazy and he had lost his enthusiasm towards life. None the less he did his best to hide it. For instance, this family tradition where we sit around a bonfire and talk about whatever comes to mind, was founded. I got to know so much more about my parents' love story in those evenings, it made feel like mom wasn't so distant after all. Still I missed her daily but at the same time a destructive anger built inside of me. I kept wondering "How could mom leave us?"

When I finally saw her again, I ran to her, arms hide open and cried my eyes out. Considering the tension in our relationship before she left, she was genuinely surprise by my reaction, and so was I. However, as the time passed by our relationship quickly return to its normal boiling state: we argue all the time. The situation was worse now because our family continued disconnected. Mom and dad were not in sync – something was not right between them. One day my mom had had enough of this, she couldn't take it anymore. We were at the dinner table, all 4 of us, me and her were bickering, and suddenly she punches the table, gets up and says: "I don't understand why you want to fight me so badly!" She turned her back on me "We should do it… a real fight: warrior to warrior" and left the room. My father, who had stood there with his mouth wide open, rushed after her, certainly thinking my mom was insane and trying to talk her out of this. But if you have the slightest idea of who my mother was, you'd know that my father never stood a change.

The next day we were ready to fight, she had her armor and face paint on, and I had my fan on one hand and my father's boomerang on the other. I was not about to let my mother get away with winning – I was truly convinced I could beat her. At our rearranged living room, with my father leaning against a wall with a worried look, we stood face to face. Our eyes met, and I saw a quit familiar look: I saw my own determine look. Instantly I got scared, but I couldn't show it, so I made the first move and hit my mother's armor on the chest. She took a few steps back. I attacked again; she dodged my fan. The fight had been going on for a while and I took another shot, targeting her legs and causing her to fall. I was standing on top of her ready to strike again, but instead I asked: "You're letting me win without even trying?!" and she replied: "I'm your mother, I will never hurt you, no matter how bad you want me to". Those words hit me like a strong kick in the stomach. I was just so angry at her for leaving, for being an amazing mother and warrior at the same time, for being everything I wished to be. Plus, I was also angry at the world that kept telling me I didn't had to fight – world needed mom, but not me! Standing up she told me: "I know you have all these feelings trapped inside of you, I wanted to help you set them free…and what better way to do it then through combat, the first language you ever spoke?" As I took my time processing all that had happen, the single most delicious memory I own has being shaped.

My father came closer to us: "I also have somethings to tell you… things I can't put into words" he took the boomerang out of my hand and threw it at mom! She totally avoided the collision with the object the first time but wasn't so lucky the second time around. Quickly recomposing herself, mom did a precise sequence of movements. Ditching them dad smacked her against the wall – she was not pleased! As if time had frozen, I could hear their the heavy breathes. Mom jumped high in the air, landing just behind dad. With agile fist movements mom chiblocked father who was now motionless on the floor. Nine-year-old me stood there, mouth wide open: That had been the first really fight I witnessed, and it was everything I ever dreamt! Under my mother's gaze, dad slowly regain movement and looking right into her eyes said: "Somethings never really change" and cracked a sweet smile that I hadn't seen in years."


	2. Chapter 2

"I'm Kimi and I'm the black sheep of this family. I've always stood out of our little crowd, thanks to my private nature: I prefer to be left alone rather than be in the middle of the action and that cannot be said about the rest of the clan. I've been like this since the day I was born a calm, smiley baby that only cry when absolutely necessary, which included every time my mother had her face paint on - I was scared by it. For the longest time mom avoided it, which wasn't easy if you keep in mind that she had to use it to train with the warriors, and that Kanna always loved the atmosphere created by mom's costume. That atmosphere made my sister feel safe whereas I felt anxious. Our differences were constant through our childhood, we clashed all the time. My calm and sensitiveness contrasted with her captivating and rebellious nature, and honestly, I didn't really like her that much: she used to call me "coward", always dodging fights and disgracing our heritage. Honestly, I see our relationship as if I was water putting out the fire in her. With the rest of the family my presence was sometimes unnatural, as if my parents didn't know what to do with me!

My father used to tell me all kinds of stories about strange creatures he had seen when travelling the world. They were probably made up, yet my favorite one went like this: "Once upon a time team avatar travelled the world, we were flying over a bunch of trees until we started losing altitude for no good reason. Uncle Aang swore that the earth was calling him! But we decided to ignore this "calling" and as we did that a powerful tornado formed behind us. Somehow it was chasing us, and I almost died for the first time that day! We were forced into a swamp, a dark, humid, and rather strange swamp – the birds there screamed in an awful way! The night quickly came upon us, so we decided to get some sleep but the minute we closed our eyes, some vines tide our feet and pulled the three of us apart! Alone in the dark, I saw a bright light that looked exactly like a lost friend of mine, I was about to speak when she vanished and by chasing her, I was reunited with the others, facing a gigantic, majestic tree. We didn't have time to properly admire it because an enormous monster emerged from the muddy water! It was made of plants and was attacking us constantly – we couldn't catch a break! Every blow was repaired a split second later. Once again, I came close to the end, trapped in a web of plants that were swallowing me! This thing felt invincible, but that changed once we learned that the mythical beast in front of us was a man bending the vines. He was the swamp protector and told us that the tree in front of us was its heart. Those roots spread for miles creating the whole swamp… and the whole world - the tree was not so different from you and me, Kimi. You see everything is connected and in sync – its growing at the same time – and deep down it all goes back to that one tree." With a different approach mom spent a big part of her day with the kyoshi warriors, so she took us with her. My sister wore a determined face and with unbalanced, unprecise movements tried to mimic the warriors, but I was terrified and counting the minutes to get out of there. I focalized my discomfort constantly until one day mom told me: "Kimi, every movement we do here is rhythmic, precise and the goal is to defend yourself. If you overlook the goal, you can think of it as a dance!". Just like that I started to love going "to fight", I now joined Kanna mimicking movements and handling fans but I my movements were lighter, more fluid and charged with happiness. At this point I was the first one ready to leave the house for the training!

However, my dance sessions came to an end when mom left for war. Since the last day I saw her I was sad all the time and my thoughts were constantly elsewhere, luckily at 5 years old my idea of war was unrealistic. Dealing with a new reality, a lot of times I would just sit in a corner observing the new dynamics of the family. Despite her bitter energy, my sister made me feel sheltered through all my mother's absence. She was a really big help and was always there for me. We really grew closer during this period, and many nights we cried together and shared our worries. One of those nights, she suggested that I pictured mom dancing not fighting, and that really comforted me. Regarding my father things were not great! Being alone with us wondering what was happening to mom was harder for him them fighting a war at the age of 14. I could sense he was sore inside, feeling kind of vulnerable. The only thing I could think of to help was keeping him company and tell him some of the stories that he had told me – sometimes I could swear he cried - I hope he felt understood and supported by me.

Strangely I felt more like part of the family now than I did when mom was with us, at this moment we were all hurting because of war, so my beliefs about it seen to be reasonable. Once mom returned, I thought this feeling would grow stronger, because with arms around her daughters she told us: "Girls you look so grown up! I can't believe it! I promise you both that I will never leave again…In fact I'm quitting the kyoshi warriors – Ty Lee will take over for me…". Unfortunately, I was mistaken, everybody praised us for "our" bravery and combat skills. Mom was almost a celebrity, as popular as the Avatar and I wasn't a fan of it! Despite I always showed support and pride in my mother's achievements. From this era on my existential problems increased: I was the daughter of two great warriors with a sister just as dedicated to the fight, who did not understand the purpose of it! This was like not understanding the purpose of the family or my place in it, I mean this family exists because there was a war! A bunch of similar questions were constantly in the back of my mind, like an invisible wall keeping me isolated. I love my family and I was always loved, but something was keeping me from them.

I was 12 when all these overwhelming feelings culminating in the worst pain I've ever felt. For 3 days I just refused to leave my room, I was ashamed to face the world and more importantly my parents - nobody could get through to me. With a knock a lifechanging moment began. I opened the door quickly turning away from it and I heard: "My God I've missed my girl! Do you still know who I am? It's dad!" I didn't react and he sat next to me "What's wrong, my sweet girl?" he insisted. I never told nobody what made me so upset, instead I asked him: "Are you sure I'm your kid? I look at me and I don't see anything in common with you or mom…". He was taken my surprise by my question: "To be 100% sure I would have to ask your mother!" he joked. I continued: "Physically I have light skin that screams I'm not from here, my eyes are so different from ever body else's… they lack your sharpness… I'm weak and shy and…" I was interrupted by a warm hug and even warmer words: "Sweetie you are not weak! You are such a unique girl who's never afraid to express herself, her ideas and feelings. That takes courage! It's way harder than grabbing a sword and fight a war. It exposes you, frees your soul but it also makes it vulnerable to hurt – specially when your ideas are so different from ours. See, growing up me and mom didn't have the luxury to live freely and to be in touch with our feelings like you are! They were just too painful, so we put on a brave face and ran from them." I had never seen things from this perspective, but it I never tried to hide my uneasy feelings or my differences. And that made me brave?! Looking at my confused green eyes dad said: "Opening yourself to the world gives people the power to destroy you. You know that and still you continue to do it… that makes you the most fearless person I know… and I fought a war!" This conversation completely changed my self-image and allowed me to be the adventurous, dedicated, happy girl that I always wanted to be."


End file.
